It's Complicated
by peanutbutterandjellyfish
Summary: Danny is 17 years old and his parents are saving up for money after a horrible housefire. They have to move to the outskirts of town to his Aunt Margaret's small ranch/farm. He does alot of work there and wants to leave. But something changes his mind.
1. Aunt Margaret

I woke up to the smell of smoke. The smoke detector was beeping. I coughed and cleared smoke from my view. I looked around and felt the door. It was blazing hot. I immediately got out through my window and climbed onto a tree. I was in the backyard, and through the windows downstairs, I saw fire through the glass. There was no way out - but then I looked over to the fence to my right.

I climbed over and I knew that Mrs. Judd would probably be angry at me for going over to their property without permission.

As I landed behind one of her plants, Harry spotted me. "What are you doing?" he asked me.

"My house is on fire!" I exclaimed.

"Haha, was your straightener overheated or something?" asked Harry.

"This isn't funny, my house is on fire!" I exclaimed again and got out of his backyard and saw the front of my house being showered with water from a hose - the fire department was already here.

My older sister, Vicky, who was 19, stared at me with a very angry face. She shook her head at me. Her brown hair was messy and curled and she had smudged eyeliner all over her face. She was in her PJs, which were blue with rubber ducks all over them.

"Pull up your pants," Vicky said. "I'm never lending you my hair straightener again!" she yelled.

"What? What do you mean? I didn't do anything!" I fought back.

"Daniel Alan David Jones," my mother said as she walked towards me. "You were straightening your hair before you fell asleep last night. You forgot to turn it off and it fell in front of the curtain - then everything caught on fire. We were freaking out because you wouldn't wake up. Your father was very worried about you."

"I'm sorry, mum, I'm sorry." I apologized. "I didn't mean to -"

"You're grounded from ever using your sister's things, alright, Dan?" my dad asked. I nodded my head. "Alright. Look, we're going to stay with your Aunt Margaret for now, okay? We're going to have to stay with her until we have the money to buy a better house. Everything's burned."

"Except for my room." I rolled my eyes.

"Still, Dan, we're moving with your Aunt Margaret." my dad cleared up. I nodded.

It's been nearly four hours waiting outside. The firemen have already put out the fire. "Alright, everybody, go inside and see what you can take to Aunt Margaret's. The fireman says that luckily, Danny didn't burn everything." my mom said, giving me a dirty look.

"Ugh," I said in disgust as I rolled my eyes and stomped into the house to get up to my room. I saved my guitar, some lyrics I have been writing with my friends. I saved the clothes, too - they were all stuffed into my backpack, except the guitar in it's case. I was packing and packing, and finally I ran out of room. I shoved them into a plastic bag hidden in the corner and ran down the stairs.

My parents had smaller bags, because they noticed the fire first and got out through the front door - most of the things in their room were burned.

Vicky went out through the front window and climbed down the tree at the front. The front window was her bedroom window. She had a stuffed backpack and stuffed purse. "Mom, I'm never going to be able to save up for another hair straightener." she growled.

"It's okay, I'm sure Aunt Margaret will have one." my mom smiled.

My dad drove us all in his car and we headed for Aunt Margaret's.

Aunt Margaret lived in a rancher with a field that was 8 acres large. Her home was mainly small, and she didn't go to the city much because my uncle Hebert died a long time ago.

We got to the ranch and my dad parked behind her small PT Cruiser, that was maroon.

We rang the doorbell, and there was my Aunt Margaret, her hair in ringlets. It was caramel-brown and there were some grey hairs here and there. She was 39, but she had so many grey hairs.

"Danny, I haven't seen you since you were four years old!" Aunt Margaret exclaimed. "What have you done with your hair?" she exclaimed. "I last saw it lighter...and curlier."

"It got darker over time...and I straightened it." I smiled.

"...That's how the house burned down." Vicky smirked. I nudged her. "Ow!" She exclaimed.

"Come in, you guys will love the house." she smiled. We all walked in. IT WAS EXTREMELY SMALL!

The second you walked in, you were already in the small kitchen, and to your right was a very small dining room. It looked cramped around the table that could serve a happy couple. There were six chairs around the table. Yikes.

Across the dining room was a very messy living room. Her poodle, Buttercup, had been gnawing at the red plaid fabric of the couch. Foam was everywhere. The low wooden coffee table was a divider between the couch (that could probably fit three people) and the small TV.

There were magazines everywhere and coffee stains on the living room blanket. The pillows had holes in them and the ceiling fan/lamp above us only had 2 out of 3 lightbulbs working.

There was a broken vase in the corner. "Aunt Margaret, where's your bathroom?" asked Vicky.

"Oh, why don't you and your brother place your toiletries there? It's the door on the left!" smiled Aunt Margaret. There were only three doors. The first one, on the left, lead to the bathroom. There was a narrow hall in between the bathroom door and the other door that lead outdoors to the field. The other door was... "The other door leads to our bedroom." said Aunt Margaret.

"...Wait, there's only one bedroom?" I asked.

"Yes, of course, honey." Aunt Margaret smiled. I forced a smile as Vicky and I walked into the small bathroom.

It was a very small bathroom; probably the size of a queen size bed. In the corner was a small shower stall and it had curtains with cats on them. In front of the shower stall was a porcelain toilet, beside a single sink that looked very gross. A mirror was above the sink, and there was a crack in the mirror. The light was flourescent but it flickered alot.

We walked into the bedroom next and it was okay sized. It was twice the size of an average master bedroom. There was only one queen bed in the center of the room, and two dressers at the very left.

"Danny, how old are you now?" asked Aunt Margaret.

"I'm seventeen, now, Aunt Margaret." I replied.

"Great! You can help me work around the house! Come on!" Aunt Margaret grabbed my hand and got me to go outside.


	2. The Farm

I really didn't want to work out here. There was cow poo and dog poo everywhere and all the cows were in the farm. Aunt Margaret had chickens and horses, too, but I was positive that was it. The grass was long and everything. There was a lawnmower a few metres away from me.

It smelled really bad. "No offense, Aunt Margaret, but it stinks out here. Are there dead bodies under the ground?" I asked.

"I haven't taken care of the field for a week - I've only fed the animals."

"I think you're overfeeding them. I mean just look at the size of the crap on the ground." I confessed.

Aunt Margaret shook her head at me. "Language, Danny."

"Am I the only one working here?" I asked, hoping I wasn't.

"There's a few more people who live across the street from the ranch." Aunt Margaret explained. The houses across Aunt Margaret's house were townhouses that looked incredibly classy. "They should be here later in the afternoon. Be nice, Danny, and get working."

"But Aunt Margaret I don't know how to do any of this." I admitted, but she ignored me and just went back into the house. "Ugh," I said in disgust and I started poking at the cow poo with the rake. "Haha, it's cow poo." I said immaturely.

I fell asleep on the bench by the back door.

"Wake up! You!" A voice called out to me. "Stop bumming around." said the voice again.

"Think he's new?" asked another voice.

"He probably is," replied the first voice. "You! Wake up!" they exclaimed again.

I opened my eyes to find one girl in front of me and one boy, too - they looked the same age as me.

I smiled as I turned to my right to find my best friend, Dougie Poynter, come out of the back door. "Doug!" I yelled in excitement.

"Hey, Danny, what are you doing here?"

"My house burned down, so now I have to live with my Aunt Margaret," I explained. "My family's broke right now." I whispered into his ear. He nodded.

"So Margaret's your aunt?" asked the first boy. I nodded.

"He's off limits, Jeremy," said the girl quietly.

The boy, Jeremy, had a fairly nasal-toned voice which was a little high pitched. He had shaggy, short blond hair and eyes that were golden brown like toast. He was muscular and could probably beat me up. He looked like somebody any girl would fall for. Pfft, but I was probably way more better-looking than him, and the girls would probably fall for me! ;)

"Mary, that means he's off limits to you, too." Jeremy replied.

Mary was beautiful. I've never seen any girl more beautiful before. Her hair was long. She had jagged layers. The bottom layers were black and the top layers were a pinkish wine red. She had contrasting green eyes that reminded me of spearmint. Her skin was like porcelain - it looked smooth and it was a fair tone like mine, though free of blemishes or freckles.

"Dougie, how do you know this weird kid?" asked Mary.

Dougie smiled. "He's my best friend. He's the one in the band I told you about. Our band, McFly." Dougie explained.

"Oh, I see." Mary nodded.

"How's that going, by the way?" asked Jeremy. "Did you guys get a gig yet?"

I looked at Dougie. And mouthed 'school talent show'.

"Oh, right. The school talent show, so far." Dougie explained.

"Nice way to end the senior year...but isn't the talent show like a week before your prom thing?" asked Jeremy.

Dougie nodded.

"I'm Danny," I introduced myself.

"The name's Jeremy," Jeremy introduced, probably thinking I might've forgotten his name.

"Mary." Mary smiled. "But don't let the name confuse you, I'm not exactly the little Mary Bo-Peep. I'm much more rebellious than that." she winked at me in her black smudged eyeliner.

"She is," Dougie smiled.

Mary walked away to put on her gloves that were yellow. She was wearing a light blue jean-jumper over a light pink plaid shirt that was rolled up to her elbows. She was wearing white, dirty converse all-star high tops under her jumper. Everybody was wearing a jumper. Each jumper was in a different shade of blue.

Jeremy wore a dirty orange t-shirt under his jumper and he wore brown loafers. Dougie wore tube socks and dirty, off-white skater shoes and an ordinary white T-Shirt.

I was wearing a green and white striped polo and jeans and shoes like Dougie's, only white and not as dirty. Dougie threw a jumper at me. "Try this on for size." he said.

It was a perfect fit. Aunt Margaret told me to go and feed the chickens with corn. I walked over to the barn in the field which was in a corner by the fence, in the very far upper-right of the field. There, I bumped into Mary.

"Hey, Sammy." she said.

"It's Danny." I corrected.

"Hey, Danny." she said again, correcting herself.

"Hi...Hi, Mary." I smiled at her.

"So what do you do?" she asked.

I started feeding the chickens. She was milking some cows. "Well, like Doug said, we're in a band right now...and obviously I'm working for Aunt Margaret. How about you?" I asked.

"I'm a hairdresser and I work for your Aunt Margaret too, obviously." she explained.

"Oh." I said, continuing to feed the chickens. "What's up with Jeremy? I overheard you talking to him about something off-limits." I confessed.

"Jeremy's...different. He's gay." she explained. I stopped feeding the chickens. "But he's really nice, though, you'll warm up to him. Dougie did. Jeremy actually had a crush on Dougie for a while." she added.

"Oh...Interesting." I said. "Hey, do you do perms?" I asked Mary.

"Yeah, why?" she asked back. "You have a sister who wants one?"

"I have a sister, Vicky, yeah, but she doesn't want one... I actually want my hair permed straight." I confessed.

She started laughing. "You? Really? I'd like to see your real hair." she smiled.

"No! No, please, no." I begged.

She got up from her chair and picked up a pail full of water. "It's a little cold." she said quietly.

"Ah!" I yelled as I started running in the field.

She was chasing after me with the pail. "You okay there, mate?" asked Dougie from afar, who was taking care of all the poo in the field.

"Doug! Help!" I screamed back.

"It's just a _little_ cold, Danny!" Mary said as she caught me, dunking the water all over my head. My hair was going in curls and my suit was getting wet. "Aw, look at you! Your hair's cute." she smiled.

"No, it's not, it looks like pubes." I said as I covered my head. "You owe me a free perm." I explained.

"Calm down, girly-boy, I'll give you a perm right after we finish working, okay? I promise." she smiled.


End file.
